I recently flew from Chicago to Melbourne (with of course required a few plane changes but all on 747-400s) and back in 17A and loved it. The galley noise was pretty much non-existant because it is behind the stairs leading to the upper deck and very few passengers moved up and down the stairs during the flight. There was also enough space between seats so even when 16B and 17B are fully reclined it didn't take too much effort to get out